“How are you feeling, young lady?” Jerry asked.
“Well, I’m sitting upright and on the phone, so better.”
“She still sounds unwell to me,” Ben said. “She should take the day off tomorrow.”
“Agreed,” Jerry said.
Emily shook her head. “We have two client meetings tomorrow,” she reminded them.
“Young lady,” Ben said. “Our company benefits include a generous number of sick days for a reason. You’re sick. Take the day off. We’re perfectly capable of handling client meetings. We’re not doddering old fools. Yet.” They were both sharp as tacks, and they genuinely cared about the health and wellbeing of all their employees.
“Thank you. I can change my day off to tomorrow—”
“You’ll do no such thing. That was a scheduled day off, and you’ll take it.” Jerry’s tone indicated he’d brook no further argument from her.
She was so lucky she’d found this job. She must be crazy to consider leaving it. “Okay, you win.”
They both laughed. “We’d fully intended to, my dear,” Ben said.
“Do you need anything?” Jerry asked.
She looked at Jack as he walked into the room carrying another bottle of water for her and smiled. “No, I have everything I need.”
“Have you eaten? How about some takeout? I’ll call and have them deliver some soup,” Jerry persisted.
“No, I just had some, and I have plenty more.” She grinned at Jack. Sully never would’ve made her soup. Germaphobe that he was, at the first sign she was sick, he’d have crashed at a friend’s. That wasn’t really fair; she’d understood his paranoia over getting sick. His office was extremely competitive, and sick days were frowned upon.
“We’ll see you on Thursday. Feel better.”
Emily dropped her phone on the bed.
“Have you told your bosses about me?”
Emily furrowed her brow. “No.”
He looked hurt by that. “Have you told anyone about us?”
Shit. “Nicki knows.”
“Nicki doesn’t count.”
Emily laughed. “Don’t tell her that.” At Jack’s continued scowl, she added, “Vince knows, and I told Meg.”
“What about Eddie and your other friends? Do you even think of me as your boyfriend?” Jack stood and paced the room. “I tell everyone you’re my girlfriend. I’m proud of us.”
“You know that’s not it.”
“Then why haven’t you told them?”
“Told them what? That I’m dating a rock star? They’ll want details.” Emily sputtered. “I didn’t tell anyone about Sully the first month we dated, not even Nicki.”
“I thought she was your best friend.”
“She is, but I’m a private person. I wanted to be sure there was something to tell.”
“You don’t think we have something real? Something to tell?”
Emily sighed. She’d known he wouldn’t understand. “Jack, you said yourself that our relationship would come with difficulties. It hasn’t even been a month, and except for a quick visit on Mother’s Day, we haven’t seen each other for almost three weeks.”
Jack sat on the edge of the bed facing away from her. “You don’t think we’re going to make it?”
Emily huffed. “What do you want me to say? We met at your concert, I slept with you that first night, I don’t want to share that with people.”
“You don’t have to tell them that.”
“I’m not ready.”
“To what, share details or admit to yourself there are details?”
Emily threw the covers back. “What do I owe you for the groceries?”
“What?”
“I stayed with you at your hotel in New York for a week, and you paid for everything. I visited you in Hartford, and you paid for everything including the bus tickets. This isn’t a free ride.”
“Baby, this is stupid. I have the money.”
“And I don’t, that’s what you mean, isn’t it?”
“Do you?”
“I live on a budget just like everyone else that’s normal.”
Jack ignored that. “Why should you if I can just pay? It doesn’t make sense.”
“I don’t feel comfortable with you paying for everything. The clothes alone cost a fortune. Do you know how much that underwear cost?”
Jack shrugged.
“Seven hundred dollars. That’s crazy.”
Jack gave her a wolfish grin. “Worth every penny.”
Emily growled in frustration. “I don’t want you to think that I don’t appreciate it, because I do. You’ve been very generous, but you need to understand that I’ve been on my own for a long time. It’s not easy for me to have you swooping in here thinking you’re just going to take care of everything.”
“You think I’m trying to take over.”
“No, I’m… I don’t want to fight.” Yet she’d picked a fight with him. She knew he’d take it badly that she hadn’t screamed from the rooftops about their relationship. She’d met his friends and family, yet other than Nicki, he hadn’t met any of her friends. Picking up her phone, she thumbed through her contacts until she got to Eddie.
“Hey, beautiful, what’s going on?”
“Hi, Eddie, how are Sheryl and the kids?”
“Fine. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit. Tell me.”
When Emily didn’t answer right away, Eddie swore. “You have a migraine, don’t you? I can hear it in your voice. I didn’t know you still got those.”
“Not as bad as I used to, and this is the first one in two years.”
“What happened?”
“Listen, I’m feeling better, okay, just drop it.”
Eddie swore again.
“I wanted to tell you that”—she looked at Jack who turned to face her—“I met someone.” Why did this feel so awkward? Meeting someone was good news.
“Emi, that’s great.”
“His name’s Jack, and he’s a musician.”
Eddie chuckled. “I look forward to meeting your young fellow.”
“Really, Eddie, young fellow? You’re thirty-nine.” Emily rolled her eyes.
“Is he older than me?”
“No.”
“Then he’s a young fellow who needs to be prepared for a going over. Vince and I decided we’re not taking any chances. He will be grilled, and if he can’t take it, then you’ll have your answer.”
Emily shook her head but smiled. She loved them both. “What are you going to do, take out your guns and clean them?”
“No, that was your father’s way of dealing with the undeserving youths that came calling. I’ll just intimidate him with my size, tats, and scary piercings.” Sheryl laughed in the background.
“That might work.”
“I need the practice.” Eddie’s voice grew husky. “We’re having a girl.”
“Holy crap, the triple terrors are going to have a baby sister?”
“Yes. They’re so excited.” As if on cue, the volume on Eddie’s side increased. “They miss their favorite aunt.” She heard the unmistakable sound of toddler feet and then Nicholas. “I wanna tawk Unty Emwe.”
“Hi, Nicholas,” she said to her three-year-old nephew. “Someone has a birthday coming up.”
“It’s mwe.”
“It is you. What would you like?”
Nicholas spoke for a minute, reverting to his baby babble, but Emily got the gist. He wanted a motorcycle like daddy’s. His older brothers, Teddy, seven, and Michael, five, had motorized ones, and Nicholas didn’t like being left out. He made kissy sounds, and then Eddie was back on the line. “Hey,” he paused as the chaos receded on his end. “I got him one.” She could hear the pride in Eddie’s voice. He was madly in love with his wife and adored his boys.
“He’s getting easier to understand.”
“His speech the
rapist says he’s doing exceptionally well. Sheryl does the exercises with him every day.” Eddie cleared his throat. “Let’s plan something, you can visit with the terrors, and I will grill your young man.”
“Jack travels a lot.”
“The next time he’s in town, bring him over. In the meantime, please come for a visit before my sons destroy our home. Apparently, you tell much better stories than I do.”
They planned a dinner for the following Monday. She’d drive down after work, spend the night, and leave early the next morning to go to work. It was supposed to rain, and Eddie didn’t like her driving late at night.
Jack was smiling when she hung up. “What?
“You’ll make a wonderful mom.”
Emily wasn’t so sure about that. Sully had left it up to her to decide if they’d have kids. He’d said he was fine either way, but it was a lot of pressure to have the ultimate decision left up to her. It was entirely too soon to have this discussion with Jack, so Emily changed the subject. “Maybe we could plan a dinner with them when you’re off that week in June.” She didn’t want Jack to feel like she was hiding him.
Jack made a face. “Yeah, we never talked about that week. I promised my folks I’d visit. It’s Father’s Day weekend, and we haven’t had a long visit since Christmas.”
Disappointment crashed over her. She’d been looking forward to spending that week with him. It’d be the most time they’d see each other since that first week in the city, and she assumed they’d spend it together. Like a normal couple. Except they weren’t a normal couple and never would be. Emily sighed. “Oh.”
“Hey, if you could take a few days off work, I could ask my folks if you can come.”
She was blinded by Jack’s smile, but her heart felt heavy in her chest. She remembered what he’d said on Mother’s Day about wanting to be with all the people he loved at the same time, but Emily didn’t relish the idea of spending that much time with his mother. An awkward few hours was one thing, but a long weekend? Emily couldn’t contain her shudder.
“Cold?” Jack went to her closet, pulled out a sweater, and draped it over her shoulders.
Emily felt guilty for not liking Jack’s mother but not enough to encourage his idea. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, but we’ll see each other before and after.” And Father’s Day was as awful as Mother’s Day, and birthdays, and Thanksgiving, and Christmas... “Your mom doesn’t like me.”
Jack’s smile faded. She felt like she’d just taken away his favorite toy. “She doesn’t know you yet.” He sat on the bed and rubbed her arm. “Think about it?”
Fuck. She didn’t want think about it. She. Didn’t. Want. To. Go. It was bad enough she had to adjust to this new type of relationship, where she never really felt solid about any plans they made, but this was too much to ask of her. “Maybe I’ll visit you while you’re there.”
“Em, this isn’t going to work if you’re not willing to make an effort.” Jack stalked out.
Not making an effort? Are you fucking kidding? This relationship was nothing but effort: phone calls at all hours of the day and night, arranging her life around his tour schedule. And where the fuck was Nicki when she needed her? Off on tour with Curt.
Emily ripped off the sweater and jumped out of bed. Losing her balance, she landed hard on her bad leg. Motherfucker. She couldn’t even have a fight with her boyfriend without the past invading, reminding her she was damaged. Tears threatened, but she refused to give in to them. She had something to say, and she’d damn well say it dry eyed.
She used the bed to push to her feet and got her bearings before more calmly walking into the living room. Jack sat on the couch gently strumming his guitar. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and it was just about the sexiest thing she’d ever seen. Instead of letting it deflate her anger, she forged ahead. “That’s not fair. You can’t just say something like that and walk out of the room.” In the past, she’d have given in and apologized.
Jack put his guitar back in the case. “I don’t want to fight about this right now, you’re still recovering.”
“Well, when exactly will we fight about this? You’re off again in two days.”
Jack scowled at her. “And there it is. This is my fault because I’m on the road.”
Emily shook her head. “I don’t know what that means. This isn’t about blame, Jack. It’s about how huge of an adjustment being with you is. You said I’m not making an effort, but it’s all effort. It’s all new to me. Don’t you think asking me to stay at your parents is weird? It’s not like we’ve been together for years or we’re engaged. My parents would’ve never allowed something like that.” Emily sat because her thigh ached, and her head pounded with the angry blood that coursed through her veins.
Jack sat next to her. “I’m sorry, you’re right, I shouldn’t have walked out like that. It’s just… Christie used to blame me when things didn’t go her way. I kept waiting for you to blame me for what happened Friday.”
Puzzled, Emily glanced at Jack.
“Those guys in the bar. If I’d been here, that wouldn’t have happened.”
“Even if you lived here, it’s not like we’d be together every second of the day. Some guys hitting on me wasn’t your fault. Why would I blame you?”
“Because I’m never around.”
“Maybe part of the problem with you and Christie was that you did too much for her. No wonder she attached herself to you. You made things easier for her, took away the struggle. She had no one else to blame when success wasn’t handed to her. You set yourself up to be the perfect excuse for her failure to succeed.”
Jack nodded. “She said I never did enough to help her career.”
“You can’t fix everything. I know you want to, and that’s honorable but impossible. It’s one of the things I admire most about you. Remember when we left the Garden that first night? What should’ve taken a few minutes turned into ten because you stopped to talk to everyone. You knew everything that was going on with your crew. It impressed me that you cared about the people around you, so it doesn’t surprise me that you’ve had the same crew for so long.”
“Why do I get the feeling there is a giant but coming?”
“But I won’t have you making decisions for me. I don’t want or need that.”
Jack exhaled, closed his eyes, and said in a soft voice, “What do you need?”
Emily took his hand, and when he looked at her, she saw fear. “I need you to support my decisions.”
“I don’t want you seeing your ex again.”
Emily sighed. “Do you really think I want to?”
chapter
TWENTY
Jack knew she didn’t. But that didn’t ease his fear that the fucker would be able to convince her to give him a second chance. Especially now that the reality of what their relationship would be like was playing out. He still hadn’t figured out why he was pushing her, but he needed to soon before he did or said something to fuck this up.
How could he explain when he didn’t understand himself? He stared at the floor. “No, but you might change your mind now that you see how hard it’s going to be.”
When she didn’t answer, he slowly raised his gaze, afraid to see her rejection. But Em was smiling at him. “What?”
“Jack, I’ll admit that I have no idea how we are going to make this work, but I’m made of stronger stuff than that. If we don’t work out, it won’t be because of him. I don’t want him back, and even if you’re right that he’ll try and win me back, it’ll never happen. I could never trust him again. But it’s not just that. I realize now that we had a few major issues that I’d ignored. We probably could’ve worked them out.”
Jack’s heart stopped beating.
Emily stood and paced. “After it happened, I was so hurt, so…shocked, that all I thought about was catching them. But now that I’ve had some time to step back, his reaction wasn’t what I would’ve expected it to be
. He didn’t look guilty or shocked or even try to explain.” She stopped in front of Jack. “You know what he said to me?
Jack shook his head.
A sad little laugh escaped her lips, and she scrunched her eyes closed. “He said ‘We have to talk.’ Can you believe that? Like there was anything left to talk about. He’d blown up our relationship, and he wanted to talk.” Emily sat. “I think he realized what I only now understand. We did need to talk, but it’s too late for that now.” When she opened her eyes, sadness shone in them. “You don’t have anything to worry about, Jack. Sully made his choice, and it wasn’t me.”
His heart expanded with empathy for her pain, and he couldn’t explain to her why he felt the fucker would be back. Jack just knew he would be.
Jack woke early the next morning. Em had slept in his arms most of the night, only turning away twice, which he’d remedied by scooting over and spooning her. He was starving, so he got up to cook breakfast. He loved to cook, and Em needed a hearty breakfast, so he decided on pancakes.
Her kitchen was much smaller than the one at his house in California, but it was laid out nicely. He searched out the necessary items and mixed up the batter for pancakes. While the first batch was cooking, he put on a pot of coffee. He flipped the pancakes then washed their dishes from the night before. He heard Em come into the kitchen, and when he turned to her, his breath caught. Bare feet, messed-up hair, sleepy, and wearing his T-shirt. He opened his arms, and she walked into them, resting her head on his chest. It felt so damn good to hold her, to feel her warm body against his.
“Pancakes are burning.”
“Shit.” He opened the kitchen window. “Sorry.” Jack scraped the ruined pancakes into the garbage. He put the pan on the stove to cool off. “Coffee’s ready.”
Em got two mugs and filled each one. She poured cream in both and added two teaspoons of sugar in his. Their fingers brushed as she handed him his mug, which sent a jolt of awareness down his arm. That she remembered how he took his coffee made him smile. Christie only drank tea, so she didn’t understand coffee. At all.
After breakfast, they went for a long walk. The dense, dark clouds, that weighed heavily overhead, threatened but never produced rain. He made chicken cutlets for dinner while Em handled the pasta. They worked well together in her small kitchen. She bumped into him playfully, and he loved it. She was still shaky from her horrible migraine, so the wild sex would have to wait, but he didn’t care. He loved being with her. It was so easy, so relaxed. It reminded him of how his parents worked so well together.
No More Yesterdays: A Rock Star Romance (Rocked in Love Book 2) Page 20